T. Boone Pickens, the oilman turned renewable energy apostle, has shelved plans to develop the world’s largest wind farm in North Texas to instead push for massive adoption of natural gas for transportation.
Back in May 2008, Pickens oversaw an impressive public relations roll out called the Pickens Plan that included the Pampa wind farm, a $10 billion, 1,000 megawatt initiative that, on paper, would have been one of the world’s largest wind farms.
In a conference call yesterday Pickens said the Pampa Wind Farm “was off the table”.
The tough credit conditions, plummeting natural gas prices and a lack of transmission power lines convinced Pickens to ditch his Texas wind project. Pickens’ Mesa Power said it would cut his order with General Electric to 333 turbines from 667 and will instead use them for wind farms in Canada and Minnesota, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The credit crunch resulting from the global financial crisis also made it nearly impossible to secure funding. Also, as is often the case when it comes to renewable energy, there is a lack of transmission lines linking the wind project to power markets. Already back in July, as Bnet reports, Pickens had already postponed the Pampa project until 2013 when a $4.9 billion transmission line project in Texas was expected to be completed.
Bnet’s Kirsten Korosec writes:
Transmission projects are a sticky, expensive business. And they’re a huge obstacle to building wind capacity in the United States. Aside from the cost, a lot of folks simply don’t like the idea of a transmission line going through their backyard.
During yesterday’s call, Pickens noted that low natural gas prices have made it difficult to finance wind power plants. “You can’t finance wind farms very well when natural gas is under $6,” he said.
Pickens announced that he would continue his advocacy for natural gas and would call on Congress to pass pending legislation that would offer new incentives for greater use of natural gas in the heavy-duty transport fleet.